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Commuting: A Personal History
I’m sitting on my scooter in a traffic jam at least two full city blocks long. I can see the light half of a block in front of me turns from green to red to back to green and red again. Within each light change, I move a little more than one car length towards the inevitable intersection… Read more
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Eggs, Bacon, and Evil Clowns
Skip is talking about jury duty and how, in his retirement, he gets summoned more than ever before. “I’m so tired of getting picked for jury duty. The next time a lawyer asks me what do I think of black people I’m going to tell ’em ‘There’re great. I think everyone should own one.’ Maybe then… Read more
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What will it be, a Latte or Socialism?
“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” — George Orwell, Politics and the English Language I was doing a search in WordPress on the PSL (a common initialism for the Party of Socialism & Liberation) and I got posts about Pumpkin Spice Lattes–a frou-frou espresso drink that usually pops up on coffee house chalkboards… Read more
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Trip to Vancouver: A Travelogue in Pictures and (a few) Words
I just got back from a vacation in Vancouver British Columbia. I got to see my son, his wife and their daughter. They live in Beijing so it is a rare treat when we can meet. There was some business the young family had to conduct and we were happy to offer any service possible… Read more
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A History of an Unlikly Wordsmith
I remember when my terminally ill father asked me if I was happy with the career I had chosen. That might have been a good time to lie and make him feel assured that I was doing something I enjoyed–as in the way he enjoyed making boats and my brother presumably enjoyed running a lumber… Read more
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Horrible Sports Team Names
It will be nice to see the Chief Wahoo logo finally phased out since the initial removal of the offensive logo from the players’ caps and batting helmets back in 2014. Here’s a timeline from Mother Jones of offensive sports mascots. Some of them are quite unbelievable. Before the Washington [Redacted], there were the Duluth… Read more
BURGER SCOOT 